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Friday, May 9, 2008

California Legal Assistance to Military Personnel

The legal community in California provides Legal Assistance to Military Personnel in a variety of ways.

For the Warrior Community

Active duty service members may wish to go first to Armed Forces Legal Assistance's nice online database to "locate active duty legal activities offering general legal services within the continental United States". Here is a list for the state of California.

The State Bar of California's Office of Legal Service, Access and Fairness Programs, Program Development Unit will refer military personnel to State Bar certified lawyer referral services and legal service providers.

The availability of pro bono assistance is not assured, but depends on the policy and attorney resources of individual entities. Contact Frank Monti, Office of Legal Services, Access & Fairness Programs, Program Development Unit
180 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-1639
415/538-2141 Frank.Monti@calbar.ca.gov

Los Angeles County Bar Association Lawyer Referral and Information Service
261 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012-2503
213/243-1525
lris@lacbar.orgOne on One Assistance to ReservistsA list of volunteers is being compiled; call LRIS # for possible referralsLawyer Reservist Assistance Programs
They're working on creating such a panel; call LRIS number above.

Private Practice Attorneys

Typically, a lawyer in private practice will listen to your situation for 15 or 20 minutes, then give you an idea about how to proceed, in general terms, without charging you. If the matter is something the lawyer can help you with, but must charge for, sometimes you can work out a military-family discount (it does no harm to ask?) The Findlaw website has a city-by-city list of lawyers interested in representing active-duty military personnel, military reservists, and veterans here. The California State Bar suggests several other ways to find a lawyer and is working on a "Find A Lawyer" program, according to reports.

General-Purpose Resources

Servicemembers, veterans and their families are of course eligible to use the same resources as anyone else. A good place to start looking is LawHelpCalifornia.org which has a lot of self-help resources, plus a referral and resource search page. that lets you put in your zip code or city name, and locates the nearest resource.

For Lawyers

Please contact the programs mentioned above.

If you have more information on the above, or on other efforts to provide legal help to our warrior community, please leave a comment below. The purpose is service!See also